In the process of gathering the news I have re-learned that Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, will apparently never learn to tell the truth. He is still a little spoiled kid and a real estate developer who is constantly being sued.

It still continues to amaze me that Mr. Trump did make it all the way to the White House. That is the place Abraham Lincoln worked when he was our 16th President from 1861 to 1865. Now I am starting to feel that anyone might be qualified to be President. How disappointing and sad that is.

After 777 days in office the Washington Post recently reported that Mr. Trump has made 9,014 false or misleading claims — lies. Those are just like the lie he was spreading years ago when he said over and over that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. I knew a neighbor once, who is now deceased, that tried to convince me of that same fantasy.

Speaking very sarcastically about Mr. Trump I might describe him by saying “nice hair if you like colors that should only legally be used on Halloween.” What a great country this is when we all have the right to say even untruths. We are always protected by the First Amendment, which is our right to free speech.

Unfortunately, politics is often a reckless and slimy game.

In the late 1980s, when I was the Assistant Republican Leader in the California Assembly, the leader Ross Johnson then tried to make certain I was defeated. That was because I would not fall in line regarding a battle to see who would be Speaker in our Assembly.

Ross is also now deceased. He threatened me personally and said he would mass mail a notice to all my Republican constituents in Tehama and other northern counties and tell them that my personal office in the capitol had a “fully stocked bar with running water.” Outrageous. When he said that I left his office and slammed the door as hard as I could.

That mailing did go out to tens of thousands of Republicans. It was signed by a nice but misinformed old lady who resided in the town of Willows in Glenn County. Reckless and slimy indeed. I was sometimes quoted after that on the campaign trial saying, “politics is a dirty, blood-letting sport.”

Then there was the Congressional hearing earlier this month with Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael “fix it” Cohen, while he waits to do his four year prison term. During his riveting testimony Cohen stated that he did his best to fix the President’s affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

At another point, when asked by a member of Congress if Mr. Trump ever asked him to threaten or intimidate anyone, Cohen admitted doing that up to 500 times. It made me wonder about the kind of Tony Soprano operation that is apparently is being run out of our Oval Office. Sad. Very sad.

In his fondest dreams Mr. Trump would never have never become someone who is similar to one of the founding fathers our country was lucky enough to have. No wonder there already 14, and on the way to 20, candidates already announced that are hoping to replace our present dumb dude. Opinions please.

My take on the movies

“A Star is Born” deserved that Oscar nomination. It stars Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and Sam Elliot in a film I want to see again.

Stan Statham served 1976-1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@gmail.com.